another_jim wrote:Again this indicates you and the people you quote do not understand how the term is used by those who teach and use the technique. If your shot blondes (again, as in running transparent and colorless) before you are inclined to cut it off, your sense of timing is quite odd.

Jim, I'm sure there's a good video or series of videos showing the transparent & colorless flow. Do you have any suggestions as to "credible" technique videos for that? I could always search myself, but I'd likely pick the video of a flawed technique. Always can use a little learnin'.

I've tried to make videos, and I couldn't film the "tells" of the flow -- the flow itself covers a small part of the screen, and the light metering is not affected by it. My guess is that it would take studio lighting and an high end video camera to get the needed exposure quality. This may be the reason for the dearth of videos.

But in practice, it's simple and the complete opposite of what the blonding critics aver: when Heather was competing, she had the reputation of letting shots run on forever. This also meant that she was grinding finer and dosing lower than many others, and getting higher extractions. Keeping extraction levels high is more of a challenge with lighter roasts, and it is precisely for this reason that people using them should wait for their shots to blond.

This is not rocket science. They need to find a dose/grind combo that does not gush (or use a lever or variable pump) and let the shot run on until they have water. At that point, they have a fully extracted shot by definition, and can start cutting back while retaining the same taste balance.

Thanks Jim. On videos it can be hard to capture what the human eye sees, that's for sure!